Secret oil deal between Hun Sen and Thaksin Shinawatra

Secret oil deal between Hun Sen and Thaksin Shinawatra (2)
In early 2006 Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen and Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra concluded a secret oil deal to personally share "under the table" a portion of royalties to be paid by oil exploitation companies. Those companies had been exploring very promising offshore oil and gas deposits in the Gulf of Thailand, including in the overlapping zones claimed by both Cambodia and Thailand.
For revenue stemming from these overlapping zones, a tentative agreement has been reached whereby:
- Revenue from zones closest to Cambodia's shores will be shared as follows: 70 percent to Cambodia; 30 percent to Thailand.
- Revenue from zones closest to Thailand's shores: 70 percent to Thailand; 30 percent to Cambodia.
However, the two prime ministers mutually agreed to mislead their respective public opinions by accepting to "recognize" that some of the zones closest to Cambodia be instead considered as closest to Thailand, and vice versa.
Therefore, in the case of Cambodia, instead of receiving 70 percent, the country would receive only 30 percent of the royalties paid by the concerned oil companies, the remaining 40 percent would be split fifty-fifty between Hun Sen and Thaksin, meaning twenty percent each for the two leaders on a personal base.
The same sharing scheme would apply to the overlapping zones closest to Thailand, with Thaksin and Hun Sen also secretly receiving 20 percent each of the royalties.

Interrelation between secret oil agreement and Preah Vihear Temple issue (2)
In order to ensure a smooth implementation of the above-exposed secret oil agreement, Thaksin promised Hun Sen to let the Cambodian government deal, as it pleases, with the Preah Vihear Temple, including registering the Temple as a World Heritage site with UNESCO.
However, Thailand's new governments following Thaksin's fall from power in late 2006, decided they were not bound by the secret and personal deal between Thaksin and Hun Sen. Border incidents started in 2008 when Hun Sen tried to exacerbate Khmer nationalistic fervor a few weeks before the July general elections in Cambodia, prompting Thailand's authorities to react by also asserting their own nationalistic stance.

Cambodian citizenship to protect and reassure "ex-foreign" investors (2)
Because Cambodia's law does not allow foreigners to own land in our country, the Hun Sen government has granted Cambodian citizenship to countless investors (from China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan but also some European countries) who are willing to invest large amounts of money to buy land and engage in "development projects." Among the most prominent "ex-foreign" investors is Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra from Thailand who was given Khmer citizenship in March 2009. Mr. Thaksin has reportedly bought large chunks of land in Cambodia's maritime Koh Kong province bordering Thailand for economic, financial and possibly other reasons.

Army generals amass fortune from standoff with Thailand (2)
The ongoing military tension on the border between Cambodia and Thailand brings about a windfall for Army generals close to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Tens of millions of dollars have been collected every month by the corrupt military brass from systemic diversion of financial support officially intended for "soldiers fighting on the frontline to defend the Motherland." The Generals are also collecting ghost soldiers' salaries (about one third of the whole Army staff) while selling on the market food and equipment earmarked for the Army. Last but not least, illegal logging (deforestation) has resumed on a large scale since 2008 thanks to the security reasons invoked to justify the secrecy surrounding any military initiative and movement.